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Strong XI Of Cricketers Who Played In IPL 2008

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Sohail Tanvir and Shaun Marsh IPL 2008
Photo: BCCI/IPL

After every season, we see several articles starting with “a strong XI of cricketers…” as the prefix, talking about the best performing players of that season. However, the most interesting of it all must belong to IPL 2008, where everything happening was brand new.

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It is always worth a throwback to IPL 2008. It was the first edition of the league, that has not only revolutionized the game in India but also across the globe. Apart from that, most of the current generation are not fully aware of what had occurred in 2008. Hence, a glance now and then is always satisfying. In this article, we bring to you a strong XI of cricketers who were part of the first IPL season.

Openers: Shaun Marsh and Gautam Gambhir

Opening for this strong XI of cricketers from 2008 will be Shaun Marsh and Gautam Gambhir. Both the left-handers stood at the top of the orange cap chart at the end of that season.

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While it was expected for Gambhir to perform, Shaun Marsh came out of nowhere and took the season by storm. A relatively unknown player, the Aussie opener scored 616 runs in just eleven games and was the highest scorer of the season. He achieved the feat despite most of the other batsmen playing more games than him. That was the brilliance of Marsh in IPL 2008.

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Middle-Order: Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, and MS Dhoni

Shane Watson was a beast in the first edition. Almost everything he touched turned into gold. While he gave plenty of superb batting performances, Watto also came up with some special spells. He was easily the best player of IPL 2008. Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni were at the fulcrum of CSK’s batting in 2008. The Indian duo will also emulate the same role in this XI.

All-Rounders: Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan

Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan
Photo: Yusuf Pathan/Instagram

The brothers will provide balance to this strong XI of cricketers from IPL 2008. While Yusuf won the trophy, Irfan went with KXIP to the semis. Yusuf was one of the names amongst the bigwigs to score a lot of runs in 2008. He was extremely aggressive and was one of the best players for the Royals. On the other hand, the younger Pathan took 15 wickets and also contributed a little with the bat to his side. All of it worked very well for his franchise.

Bowlers: Shane Warne (C), Piyush Chawla, Sohail Tanvir and S Sreesanth

Sohail Tanvir took 22 wickets from 11 games, including a six-wicket haul, a record that stayed intact for many seasons. The Pakistani player also batted a little in the lower order. Shane Warne was at the heart of the Rajasthan Royals performance in 2008. While his captaincy was exceptional, with 19 wickets from 15 games, the Aussie was good with his primary skills, as well.

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In the Indian contingent, Piyush Chawla and Sreesanth come into this strong XI of cricketers. The duo took 17 and 19 wickets respectively in IPL 2008. Both helped KXIP do well in the tournament.